Once again Episcopalians (Anglicans) and Roman Catholics will pray a similar prayer. This Sunday, November 23, is the Feast of Christ the King. Episcopalians will pray:
Almighty and everlasting God,
whose will it is to restore all things in your well-beloved Son,
the King of kings and Lord of lords:
Mercifully grant that the peoples of the earth, divided and enslaved by sin,
may be freed and brought together under his most gracious rule;
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
This is Howard Galley’s translation of the pre-Vatican II Roman Missal collect for the feast of Christ the King:
Omnipotens sempiterne Deus, qui in dilecto Filio tuo, universorum Rege, omnia instaurare voluisti: Concede propitius, ut cunctae familiae Gentium, peccati vulnere disgregatae, eius suavissimo subdantur imperio; qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitate Spiritus Sancti, Deus, per omnia saecula saeculorum. Amen.
After Vatican II, the Roman Catholic Church moved the feast day and altered the double purpose clauses:
Omnipotens sempiterne Deus,
qui in dilecto Filio tuo, universorum Rege,
omnia instaurare voluisti,
concede propitius,
ut tota creatura, a servitute liberata,
tuae maiestati deserviat ac te sine fine collaudet.
ICEL (1973) translates this as:
Almighty and merciful God,
you break the power of evil and make all things new
in your Son Jesus Christ, the King of the universe.
May all in heaven and earth
acclaim your glory
and never cease to praise you.
This is the first time time that the origin of Anglicans and Roman Catholics praying a similar collect on the same day is clear to me. The collect clearly is attached to the feast of Christ the King. Recently I have noted four times when Anglicans and Roman Catholics pray the same collect without any explanation yet of how that occurs:
October 26
October 12
October 5
August 31
Kiwi Anglicans have another collect assigned to the feast of Christ the King. They are allowed to vary the collect from the one suggested, and so I encourage them to join the majority of Christians praying the above this coming Sunday, even if it is in the NZPB version:
Let us pray (in silence) [that the reign of Christ may live in our hearts and come to our world]
pause
Almighty and eternal God,
you have made of one blood all the nations of the earth
and will that they live together
in peace and harmony;
so order the course of this world
that all peoples may be brought together
under Christ’s most gentle rule;
through Jesus Christ our Lord
who is alive with with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God now and for ever.
Amen.
NZPB p. 637b
Let us widen the circle that prays this prayer together on Sunday beyond Catholics and Anglicans.
